Paul Kremer

About Paul Kremer

Paul Kremer b.1971 is an American artist who lives and works in Houston, Texas. His style can be described as a graphical interpretation of Color Field painting, an abstract style that emerged in New York City during the 1940s and 1950s; and Minimalism, which has its origins in various art and design movements. His work could be seen in numerous group and solo shows. A range of artworks is held in private collections around the cities of New York, Los Angeles, Miami, Houston, Austin, Aspen, Norfolk, Birmingham, Hong Kong, Cannes, Toronto, and Lima.

Paul Kremer was one of the founders of the artist collective “I Love You Baby”. Amongst other founding members such as Rodney Elliott and Will Bentsen, they started to meet weekly in 2002 at Commerce Street Artists’ Warehouse (CSAW). More artists joined the group including Chris Bexar, Dale Stewart, and many others.

In his visual art, Kremer uses traditional methods. He mainly works with acrylics on canvas to achieve his distinctive style of color field painting and Post-painterly abstraction.

Paul Kremer’s artistic production oscillates between digitally printed meditations on the internet, and massive zombie abstractions that have been compared to IKEA potholders. The Future is Ow features several of Kremer’s IMG_SRCH Paintings which consist of fragments of Google image searches printed out on canvas. Examples include Portage County,and Flavin Diagram, both of which titles are also the search terms used. Nowadays, Google searches are as familiar as breathing, but when hung on a wall for contemplation, the poetry of these assembled images becomes apparent. These works continue a tradition of arranging found mass-media imagery into meaningful compositions, a tradition that includes Joseph Cornell, Robert Rauschenberg and Dada collage. Another work of Kremer’s, Mock-up, comes out of his practice of creating images where famous works of art are photoshopped into inappropriate environments. These pictures are accumulated on his notorious site Great Art in Ugly Rooms. Mock-up shows one of Kremer’s abstractions posed monumentally in a museum interior. It speaks to the alarming blur between real success pictured on the net, and …fake pictures on the net.

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↓INTERVIEW BELOW

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How would you describe yourself ?

I would not.

Which artists or movements through art history excited/motivated you the most throughout your different projects?

I don’t know about influences, but i feel related to these people on these key dates. You asked for it.

You have done a few different projects from painting to digital art but when I checked your work over the internet I was impressed by the multiple sides of your work. Is that the definition of a contemporary artist nowadays ? Do you think that contemporary art need to be defined ? And how would you describe it ? How do you define contemporary art ? As a movement or as what is art now ?

“Contemporary art” sounds so old fashioned, doesn’t it? But it is the definition of art that is being made today. Maybe we should make art that is to be assembled 200 years from now. By then it should be labeled something else.

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What about your project named « Great art in ugly rooms » ? We see more and more kinds of internet artists mixing old masters artworks with pop culture references from today society (such as rap or hip-hop lyrics over artworks) but in your work, something caught my mind, if the artwork is seen to drown in a everyday life setting, the viewer’s gaze is changed and his way of looking at the artwork is adjusted because of the setting. Is that the meaning around « Great art in ugly rooms » ?

GAiUR is about blurring the line between “good” and “bad” taste. I’m sure I’m not the only one who wanted to see these paintings in different settings. I just had the ability to make it happen.

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What does art become when removed from art places to everyday life, does it become art for everybody ? (It reminds me of Marcel Duchamp who said that he wanted to turn a Rembrandt painting into an ironing board ; or what Martin kippenberger did when he took a real Gerhard Richter monochrome and turned it into a table.)

Many others have done it from Picasso to Lichtenstein, and now it’s easier than ever to make artwork with artwork.

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Is there a link in between the projects « Great art in ugly rooms » and « art scrubs » (Where you removed artworks though Photoshop from museums and galleries)

As I was cutting an pasting works for GAiUR, I realized I could simply delete paintings from their original settings. Then I started liking what people look like staring at blank walls. Look at people today zoning out on their phones. Now imagine if they did the same thing while looking at their empty bare hands. Same thing.

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Do you think we need to reinvent our view on Art History ?

Most art history is manufactured to sell paintings.

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You also do abstract paintings , how do you think the viewer’s gaze is affected depending on where each piece is put on display ?

What kind of display? Real life or on Instagram?

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Also your work reminds me of Ellsworth Kelly who passed away few months ago, did he have an impact on your abstract work ?

I’m sure, as have others who weren’t as popular. People like Carmen Hererra, Paul Feeley, Frederick Hammersly (see *’s in above list)..

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When we scroll on your website, in the paintings section, we notice that your different pieces of work are shot in some white cubes or studio environments (with humans sometimes) but also outside in nature, what’s the purpose behind this ?

I take picts with people to show scale. I like to physically drag my paintings around because I thought that might give them a little bit of their own history. Sometimes I’ll attach the pictures to the back of the painting so the person who owns it knows where their painting has been. Environmental provenance.

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As a part of the internet generation or at least those who have been raised with internet, it feels like the previous generation which helps in the creation and feeds the web knew how to use it while the new generation do not use internet as it should be, what do you think about your use of the internet that you put into your work ?

It’s a communication tool, which breeds creativity. I’m elderly in www time; I started out making web stuff in 1994.

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In which way do you think that Instagram has an impact on your work ?

Boosts visibility and sales.

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Do you have other projects in progress ?

Yes, many.

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Where would you like to see your work exhibited the most ? (It could be any museum, gallery or any popular setting) and why this place ?

I’ll see my paintings in museums, and museum paintings in my house.

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Do you have any quotes from previous artist which is important for you ? A few words of wisdom that you hold onto or remember ?

“I wouldn’t mind turning into a vermilion goldfish.” – Matisse

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How would you describe the word ” ART “, What does it means to you ?

Look at a painting you don’t like, and say the word “Art.” It’s a perfect critique.